by Sariah Skye
Maxxus smiled half-heartedly. "It must be nice to finally be able to be who you really are after so long."
I shot him a knowing look of "Duh" and he chuckled. "I guess you would know about that, huh?"
I sighed, leaning in towards him to speak to him easier over the cacophony of the voices at the market. "Maxxus, really. What the fuck are you doing here?"
He winced. "I told you. I’m here to help protect you. I’m a guard. It’s my purpose."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "But—shit, Maxxus…you gave up everything! You’re a fugitive, now! You know very well what could happen if they catch you!"
Maxxus just shrugged his broad shoulders and looked away. "It was the right thing to do." He turned back to me and stared at me intently. "I am confident in you, that whatever lies ahead you will succeed and put things back the way they are supposed to be." He snorted. "Going after a dragon who hasn’t done anything? If they’ve done it to you, think how many others they’ve done that to? No…" he shook his head, his mouth in a solemn line. "That’s not what I signed up for." He folded his fingers together and rested his hands on the table. He shot me a smile. "Besides, I’m really not giving up much. Being a guard was so damned boring. This is sure to be more entertaining."
I smirked. "I thought the King and Queen were decent?"
Maxxus shrugged. "I don’t know them well, but I don’t think they are necessarily the problem. At least not the whole problem. Some of the House is…well a bit too narrow-minded for my taste. Bad influences."
I snorted. "You got that right." I sighed, glancing around us, the market, and the town. "Can you believe this?"
Maxxus shook his head. "This is…definitely worth it. I could find solace here, finally." He gave me a half-smile. "I think you could too."
I shrugged. "Maybe. But is there Star Trek?"
Maxxus threw his head back and laughed. "If not, I’m totally out!"
"We’re still on for that marathon, you know. I have my phone…it’s on." I said, patting my chest (I had tucked my phone in my bra, as the robes didn’t have pockets…that was something I was going to have to look into).
He grinned. "Are you sure he—" Maxxus gestured towards Gabriel, "—will be okay with that?"
"Okay with what? I do what I want." I said defiantly, crossing my arms over my chest.
Maxxus chuckled. "Evil forces be damned, no one crosses Leorah, right?"
I shook my head from side to side. "Nope!" We both laughed a moment, and Maxxus grew silent.
"Your grandfather…he’s probably worried sick," Maxxus said, with a sad sigh. He scratched at a knothole in the wood atop the table mindlessly.
I frowned. "Yeah…I wish I could talk to him."
Maxxus looked up. "You know that’s too dangerous, right? If they catch you…" he shuddered, "I can’t even bear to think what they might do to him."
"I do know. I would never risk it."
He gave me a somber face. "I am sorry. I can’t bear to see either of you be hurt. You know I hold him in the highest esteem. He…turned me into a great dragon, when so many just dismissed me. My family included."
I bit my lip to hide my pitiful look. "I know what that’s like."
"Only one other dragon refused to write me off. One other…" he trailed off thoughtfully, looking away towards the trees as if clearly recalling a memory. I sat silently, waiting for him to share it with me. When he didn’t after a moment, I just let it go.
"That is also part of the reason I’m here. To be there for you when he can’t. He would want it that way," Maxxus explained somberly.
"You sure? You sure he’d want you risking everything?"
He was nonchalant. "I did what I had to do. Someday, you’ll understand why." He smiled and looked away. I eyed him suspiciously, but didn’t press.
Maxxus was clearly a dragon of many secrets and I wasn’t going to get any answers today.
I felt a cool breeze then breeze across my neck, sending cold shivers down my spine. "Wow…that came out of nowhere." I pulled the hood up of the robes some and pulled the neck higher towards my hair line.
Maxxus stood up, looking at something behind me. The breeze turned into a gale at that point, blowing my hair out in all directions. I struggled to pull it in and away from my face. I pulled the hood over my head and had to keep it in place.
"Leo…my god." Maxxus darted around the table and directly in front of me. A loud clap of ominous thunder sounded then, causing the marketplace goers to jump and scream, startled. I had to grab Maxxus by the elbows to shove him aside—a futile attempt because he was solid as a rock—to see what he was shielding me from.
My mouth fell open, seeing the pitch-gray and black clouds roll in from out of nowhere, and start swirling just outside of the market place.
"Oh my god…" was all I could utter, feeling stunned at the frightening sight. Just moments ago it was sunny and joyful with a warm tickle of a breeze. Almost like that storm I encountered at that truck stop.
"Oh…fuck." I said. Maxxus kept trying to push me in back of him but I kept shrugging his arms off to the side.
"Leo—get back. This is not normal," he insisted.
"No shit," I retorted, sounding more snidely than I had intended.
"Leo!" Gabriel dashed up to me at that moment, with Daniel hot on his heels. He grabbed my hands and pulled me closer. Maxxus relented and stepped back.
"It’s…. it’s the same thing that was in Pineville, isn’t it?" I asked him, feeling the trepidation shake my tone.
Gabriel nodded fervently. "Shit, Leo, this is bad. We’re supposed to be safe here. There are safeguards in place, I thought."
"Everyone!" Finnian had leaped up on a table at that point, attempting to address the frightened and dumbfounded people in the marketplace who were speaking frantically at one another, some of them walking rather quickly in the opposite direction of the storm and others just staring in awe at the sudden storm front. "Take cover, quickly in your homes! Anyone that can harness the weather, I need you, quickly."
I swallowed the bile raising in my throat, and rubbed my forearms with my palms, trying to calm the hairs that were standing on end. Most people scattered frantically, assumedly to their homes, a handful stayed behind in the square, looking frightened but determined.
"Can you do anything?" Daniel questioned his brother, panicked.
Gabriel stared open-mouthed at the twister that was starting to form, at the lightning that was shooting straight out but not touching the ground. "I…. I don’t know what I can do. I can summon it…I can’t make it disappear."
"Can you…summon it to you and send it elsewhere?" Daniel questioned as Gabriel just stared blankly.
"But this is not natural. This is magic-made, right?" I pulled on his robes and forced him to stare me right in the face instead. "Right?"
Gabriel looked away from the storm momentarily. "Yes…I feel the energy. It’s…" Gabriel shuddered, and he didn’t have to finish his sentence to know what he meant.
"That’s what I thought." I inhaled deeply, and pulled away from Gabriel.
Maxxus grabbed my arm. "Leo! What are you doing?" I pulled away.
I pointed at the square, at the various sorcerers and witches throwing their hands up at the swelling storm, shooting random magics at it and having no effect. "This. I can end this. I have to. It’s here…for me."
"What the—" Maxxus began, looking at Gabriel accusingly.
I glanced at Gabriel and he nodded and left them behind to protest. "If it doesn’t work…be prepared to like, summon up a big wall of earth!" I said to the magic users. I wasn’t sure how good Maxxus’ magic was, but surely he could do something.
"It’s not working!" shouted one male sorcerer in the square frantically, as the storm grew. It was near the ground now, the twister, and beginning to toss aside brush and leaves and dirt as it made its way toward town.
"Do something! It’s nearing houses!" cried another magic-user, who had just finished cha
nting and pushed something invisible towards the oncoming storm. It had no effect on the twister and almost seemed to strengthen it.
I made my way to the center of the square, ignoring the protests of Maxxus and Daniel alike. Gabriel shoved past the sorcerers and joined me.
"Are you sure about this?" He asked me earnestly.
I nodded. "Just…if it doesn’t work…use my magic or whatever to try to blow it in the opposite direction."
He nodded.
"Leorah!" I heard Finnian’s voice call out, but I ignored him as I walked slowly, closer to the storm, feeling the rain pound against my face, the wind whipping my hair all around, and slap at my robes. I felt the crystal pulse, and grasped it momentarily, feeling a surge of confidence.
I can do this. I did it before.
The wind howled, and almost seemed to growl at my presence and answered with a strong blast of wind that nearly knocked me over if it hadn’t been for Gabriel, anchoring me with his hands at my waist.
"You may be stronger in dragon form," Gabriel said.
I nodded. I glanced down at myself, thankful I had chosen to wear the robes. The garments underneath would be shredded and I’d be naked again underneath but this was no time for modesty. The size and intensity were twice that of the truckstop storm, and I felt a quick pang of guilt, knowing that it was probably seeking me out—or whoever conjured it was, anyways. I closed my eyes and willed the change into my pink dragon form.
I growled, feeling the pull in my bones and skin as they became larger, my hands became feet, the sharp tingle as my wings shot out of my back. Feeling suddenly liberated, I roared, staring at the storm through my dragon eyes. I shook myself briefly, re-adjusting to my other form. Gabriel grabbed for the robes that had blown off of me, not able to withstand the size of my neck and clutched them to his chest. He nodded at me once and mouthed, "You got this. I’m here."
Several gasps sounded out behind me, but I ignored them.
Feeling a sudden determination, I closed my eyes in concentration. I exhaled, feeling the sting of the potent glitter streaming out my nostrils. I took one more glance at the storm and shut my eyes again. I pictured the storm in my mind again, imagined the sparkles that shot out from me penetrating the funnel, causing it to shrink, dissipating the rain, quelling the wind that blew around me.
"More, Leo!" Gabriel shouted. I barely heard him, but I managed to breathe out again, this time with a loud, rebellious growl that made a couple people yelp behind me somewhere but I paid them never-mind as I blew the sparkles, my glittery fire towards the storm, imagining it smaller, picturing the clouds swirling in the sky calming.
I opened my eyes momentarily to peek at the storm, it had dissipated somewhat, but not enough.
I stalked it, causing the ground to rumble under my feet, exhaling once again, feeling the burn of the "fire" leaving my nose and mouth, getting as close as I could to it as I breathed directly into it, willing it to go away.
The rain pelted against my rough skin and the wind howled once more ominously at me and I finally felt it lessen, the funnel soaking up into the sky.
There was a hand on my side, and I noticed Gabriel beside me. He had conjured some wind of his own, and was pushing it up towards the cloud cover. I exhaled again at his hands, and he pushed it further into the funnel and it lessened to nothing more than a slight gust as it fully dissipated. With a wide gesture, he used the wind to push aside the remaining clouds, causing them to part and sunlight to penetrate the grounds once again.
There was an astonished lull of silence in the square. I spun my head around on my large neck to see everyone was all right, and all I heard was a joyous peal of laughter and Gabriel’s voice unintelligibly speaking as my vision before me went blurry and I felt my dragon’s knees turn to rubber and give out under me and everything around me went black.
My head felt like a ton of bricks as I attempted to lift it, but winced at the pain shooting from my eyes and promptly let it fall back down to an…unfamiliar surface.
"Leo?" a quiet but worried voice I heard barely from next to me. I felt a warm palm on my front foot. I grimaced in my mind—not sure if it was actually being juxtaposed to my face—noticing that wherever I was, I was still in my dragon form.
I felt an itchy sensation underneath me. I shifted uncomfortably and struggled to do so, my limbs not quite listening to my brain as I told them to stand, sit or just move. I struggled to lift my head again, raising it a bit higher this time and forcing my eyes open. Everything around me was blurry, but I could make out a large wooden structure with a window on top that allowed the reassuring, bright sunlight stream in.
"Is she awake?" a familiar voice questioned from nearby. I didn’t hear a response, so I tried to utter, "She’s trying," but I think it came out like a garbled mess of growls.
"She’s awake." The voice chuckled and I recognized it to be Kiarra from nearby.
"What was that?" Gabriel questioned, sounding somewhat horrified.
"That was dragon basically for ‘Screw you’," Kiarra replied with a laugh.
"Wow..." was all Gabriel said. "Not what I was expecting."
I forced my eyelids open, finally, my vision still blurry. I winced at the sunlight streaming in but quickly my irises adjusted. I struggled to get up to a sitting position at least, as whatever I was laying on was incredibly scratchy and uncomfortable.
"Where the fuck am I?" I questioned, looking around me to see hay bales and stalls around. I must have been speaking in Dragon again because I caught Gabriel’s dumbfounded, open-mouth stare.
Kiarra snorted. I turned my head to see her standing nearby, next to a unicorn that was occupying one of the stalls. She was stroking his white mane with one hand and feeding him an apple with the other. The unicorn snickered and whinnied appreciatively. "You’re in the barn, dear. The guest housing isn’t magically equipped to handle a being of our size. We’ll have to fix that, I guess."
I pulled myself up a little higher, shaking my head and neck, feeling strands of hay fall off me.
"You okay?" Gabriel had hunched down next to me on the ground. He reached out a hand and touched my nose. I bumped it and grinned, feeling my head throb but relieved that I was regaining some mobility to the rest of my body.
"I…think so." I glanced at all the hay around me, but noticed a pillow that someone had placed carefully under my head. It only took up my forehead but I was thankful for it. I groaned, and rested my head against the soft cotton again. "How did I get here?"
"Maxxus." Gabriel nodded behind me, and I carefully and slowly craned my neck to see Maxxus in his dragon form, in a laying position, his sleeping head resting peacefully on his front haunches, a hushed growl as he breathed in and out, causing steam from his nose.
"The second you collapsed, he was in his dragon form immediately. Just like that," Gabriel said, with a snap of his fingers for emphasis. The resentment that had been once in his tone before when he spoke of the green dragon guard was gone, replaced with appreciation. "He just…lifted you up with his head and knelt down and got you on his back. Finnian took us to the barn with the unicorns and he set you down here, and you’ve been out for about twelve hours."
"Twelve hours?" I repeated in astonishment. I groaned. I managed to raise myself to my knees, but it was a struggle. I closed my eyes and willed myself to change back into human form, suddenly wishing myself away from this itchy hay and into the soft bed I was really wishing I could be sleeping in in my guest quarters, but nothing happened.
"Esmè said that might happen," Kiarra said, patting the unicorn and sitting on a hay bale nearby.
"Esmè?" Oh. The alchemist gypsy who gave me the crystal.
She nodded. "Yeah. She cast some sort of spell on you, and placed that crystal nearby you and said because of the drain in magic and the healing spell, you might not be able to shift for a while, until you’re fully rested."
I groaned. "How can I be fully rested in this damn barn?"
I heard a
whinny. "Hey, we like it just fine!" hollered the unicorn that Kiarra had been tending to nearby.
I tried to roll my eyes, but couldn’t—our eyes didn’t quite move that way in our dragon-forms. "No offense," I offered, and the unicorn just neighed crabbily in response.
"Have you all been here all night?" I asked.
Gabriel nodded. "Well… I have. Maxxus too. He refused to switch back into his human form and go to bed in the rooms. The only time I left was when I left to check on Daniel. Shortly after you blacked out, he had another vision."
I gasped. "Oh no…is he okay?"
"Oh, yeah he’s fine," Gabriel replied.
Maxxus let out a loud growl, and I felt guilty as I looked over at him, knowing that he had once again stuck his neck out for me and I still barely even knew him. It seemed an extreme reaction for someone who just admired my grandfather. But he must have been dreaming, as he seemed to be still asleep.
"I’m fine," Daniel piped in, entering from the large barn door. He sat on a bale of hay and looked at me with concern. "How are you?"
I just uttered an unintelligible growl and Daniel just chuckled. "That good, huh?"
"Meh," I turned to Gabriel. "Did you sleep?" I asked him.
He shrugged. "You were vulnerable…perfect time for the Shadows to strike. Thankfully, they stayed away last night."
Kiarra rolled her eyes. "Yeah…when I came in here you were curled up to her like a little puppy. It would have been cute, if not for the growling."
I snorted. "Sorry."
"I didn’t say it was you growling," Kiarra replied with a laugh, standing up. I laughed, Gabriel rolled his eyes. "I said I’d tell Finnian when you were awake. Someone else will come by with another healing spell, and he wants me to start magic practice with you as soon as possible."
"You?" I replied, unabashed. "Shouldn’t it be Gabriel?"
"He’ll be there too…but no one else knows anything about pink dragons other than me," she said. "At least, what your powers are or what they could possibly be. Feel better," she said before disappearing out the large barn door that opened and shut with a creak.
